being freelance filmmaker in cornwall. A guide.
It’s been exactly 1 year since I left my full time job working as a filmmaker & photographer within a creative agency to go freelance, so now felt like a good time to reflect on that journey.
I had been working at the agency for 4 years and it’s important to recognise just how beneficial working at an agency can be for a filmmaker & photographer. To a point, I learned almost everything I know from my fellow filmmakers & photographers and the creative director. Starting my career in this way took me from being scared to shoot even the most basic corporate job to having the confidence to work on large scale shoots and produce, shoot and edit whole brand films almost autonomously. Naturally, there’s many more positive words I could say on the whole experience but on this blog I’m going to focus on “making the leap” as it’s often put on LinkedIn - to going freelance.
You don’t work alone.
One of the scariest aspects of going freelance as a commercial photographer & filmmaker for me was the idea that I’d have to do everything myself and I would no longer be able to look across from my desk and consult fellow creatives with regards to projects. The landscape in Cornwall, before I went freelance, looked as though it was made up of lots of independent filmmakers & photographers all doing their own thing on their own. The truth is, at least as I’ve found it, the entire freelancer community in Cornwall is one big team. Almost everyone that I’ve had the pleasure of working with, be they a video editor, gaffer, motion graphics designer, documentary filmmaker, DOP, has been incredulously sound. I’ve had so much support from creatives further along their journey than me in their freelance careers, whether that’s recommending me for jobs or giving me feedback on my adverts and brand films, it seems as though the willingness to support each other comes from the fact that we are in the same boat. A phrase I picked up at the agency “a rising tide lifts all boats”.
Where does the work come from?
Honestly, at the time when I left my job and began freelancing I wasn’t certain where the work was going to come from. I didn’t have guaranteed clients, but I did know a lot of people having lived and worked in Cornwall for 10 years. I think I was fortunate in this respect and knowing people has been my biggest advantage in landing work. If you’re thinking of going freelance in Cornwall (doing anything, but especially filmmaking and photography), I highly recommend networking and telling absolutely everyone you know that you’ve gone freelance and you’re available for work!
90% of my work this year has been from word of mouth. Friends, family, fellow freelancers sending me job adverts on Instagram and Linked In, recommending me to their friends that run businesses - that helped get the ball rolling massively! I’ve found that freelancing can be self perpetuating in this respect, the more your network grows, the more you work, the more your network grows and so on.
Outside of this, I have had work from the jobs board Mandy.com where I landed a job working as a unit stills photographer on an indie feature film. I don’t post a lot on social media yet but I know this is a good source of work for friends of mine that freelance in Cornwall.
I tell this to everyone I know who’s quitting their job, going freelance or looking for a change; tell people you’re doing it! Once they know, you come into mind when opportunities arise and they reccomend you for the work.
The pictures below are from a recent shoot with fellow filmmaker and good friend Ben Battell from Salt & Gorse Productions. Gaffer: Neale Megaw Unit Stills: Sam Rogers
Smart financial moves.
I’ve always been open about not coming from a wealthy background. I had a lovely upbringing and I was very happy but financially speaking I didn’t live with my parents past 18 and so paid rent on a flat, I always had jobs growing up and I knew there wasn’t a safety pot of money my parents could send me if it all went bad. I mention this because we all know how expensive starting out can be with camera kit, lighting, sound, gimbals etc and to justify the financial decisions I made.
Here’s what I did to hedge my bets financially. Firstly, I reduced my outgoings, I moved in to accommodation that was a significant reduction in quality of life but also cut my rent down. This gave me the freedom to not worry too much if I wasn’t working lots each month. I also didn’t overspend on kit at first, I didn’t buy the latest flashy camera on the market, I rocked with a Canon 6d mkii that I bought myself 6 years prior and I bought a used Sony Fs7 for video (a cinema camera that you can pick up for under £1000). I knew this gear was capable of shooting brand films and online ads (which is what I wanted to work on) but would also be suited for events, corporate jobs and interviews and it never steered me wrong. Don’t spend £5k on kit if all that’s all the money you have and just buy or rent the kit you need as the work comes in. I bought a light (Amaran 100d ) when a job came in that was paid and required me to own a light, same with sound kit (Seinheiser G3’s, Rode Mic) and extra lenses.
Last bit of advice.
Nothing is guaranteed and I would never outright recommend someone go freelance because everyones situation is different. I knew in my gut it was something I had to do and I was confident I could make it work and I still played it very safe financially. So listen to your gut, but be smart about it. Be open about what you’re doing and be nice to fellow freelancers as they could be your next client.